Bullet-Proof Practise Amp?

When I roll off the treble and mid on bass guitar and turn the "bass" setting up a little I can get it to where (when I pluck Low E) the speaker seems to be unable to handle the vibration and distorts.

The other day in the store I tried a Bronco 40 and it did it on that.

I couldn't get it to do it on the Rumble 75.

Is this typical of low watt/small speaker practise amps?

On amps I usually roll off the treble and mid and I do the same on the guitar.......which gives me a nice "stand-up"
tone.

But sometimes I think I'm going to blow the cone right out of the Marshall........

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It's also time to learn the mids and treble controls are not just there to turn down. They are your friends when you start playing with other people (if you want to be heard anyway). Bass guitar in not just thump,thump down in the "mud".

Congrats, you just figured out that eq settings are important, and a single 8" combo amp speaker is pointless for anything but low levels and sensible eq. What happened is that you found the speaker's physical limitations, and that even a tiny bit of power with too much low end can hurt a speaker. I hope the marshall is ok, doesn't seem like you damaged it, but now you know
There are some really nice smaller combos around these days, but as far as "practice amps" go, none of them are designed to rattle stuff off of shelves. If you want bigger sound, you need a bigger amp (more specifically, a bigger speaker, or at least more speakers)
What's the main style and tone you're after (an example of a player or song for the tone would be a good idea), where are you located, and what's your budget?
Carvin, GK and Ampeg are kinda the top dogs here as far as rec's for combos. On the cheap, used peavey stuff like the tnt's are hard to beat for being rock-solid and nearly indestructible. Just about any speaker that exists can be driven to fartout with mids and highs cut and bass boosted.

The lush low tones of the bass guitar are for me a sort of self-medication......anti-stress as it were......

As soon as I crank up mid and treble I'm out of my "comfort zone"..........

I wasn't expecting too much out of the MB-15 really...........it's ok for what it is..........

Sometimes when I'm practising along to cd's it becomes sort of a volume war.......crank the amp up so it can be heard over the cd....and then crank the cd up so I can hear what I'm playing along to......

keep this up 'til the wife comes down stairs and lays the law down.......

Have you tried rolling off the tone knob on the bass, or using flatwounds? Even the wooliest of bass tones need those mid frequencies... the highs, meh, they'll become a bit more important once you need to settle into a mix, but cranking the bass is rarely anything but trouble. Y'know if you do find yourself with a more powerful amp, and more cone area, the lows will get fatter without needing to boost the lower side of the tone...while shopping and trying stuff out, try leaving all eq knobs at noon, and find the one that has what you feel is the closest to what you're after. Once you've narrowed the field, then start twiddling the eq knobs to find "the one". Of course, IMO, IME, YMMV, my $0.02, etc.

Not sure of anyone elses translation of the phrase 'practice amp', but for me it means something for my time in the shed, all alone learning tunes, developing skills, creating muscle memory in fingers through repetition, etc ...

.. a deep bass tone is the last thing I want .. I am after clarity in a good solid fundamental note that lets me hear every little mistake I might be making ... if I EQ to add 'bottom' to my 'play alongs' with computer or CD, it sounds good, but I dont hear half the little nuances that I would hear if I was playing with more clarity ...

I read the title to this thread, and looked immediately to my right where I have two little Peavey Minx sitting side by side .. one for me, one for the student ... I couldn't imagine anything more 'bullet proof' (these are probably 20-30 years old easy), and I dont think I have over $125-150 into the both of them ... one of them has even seen time in an orchestra pit at the local playhouse ...

... I may be missing something, but to me, that is a bullet proof practice amp ... JMHO